Articles by John Beaty
No Future Without New Fans
by John Beaty
The Stretch Movement's main goal is to build a new young audience. This seems like it should be an obvious statement, but jazz has ignored the fact that new young listeners are not flocking to the music. The vast majority of listeners that end up at jazz shows are students, who are studying the music, or older fans, who will not be around forever. The way things are currently set up will not result in a self-sustaining long-term system. The ...
Continue ReadingThe State of Jazz Education
by John Beaty
For my entire childhood, up through the moment I graduated high school, I was told of the importance of the SAT Reasoning Tests and attending college. I believe this was a message my entire generation heard from our parents, teachers, and society at large. While I was in eighth grade, I was introduced to jazz and immediately fell in love with the music of John Coltrane. I shared this passion with my twin brother, trombonist Joe Beaty. We were lucky ...
Continue ReadingStretch: Interactive Holograms
by John Beaty
It feels nice to finally be able to share what I've been up to since I last wrote for All About Jazz more than two years ago. In those articles I chronicled my journey from first learning Jazz, attending Music School and finally life as a touring Jazz musician. Through this process I came to understand some very fundamental problems with the current state of jazz. I also came to realize that there was a great difference between the reality ...
Continue ReadingStretch, BAM and the Future of Jazz
by John Beaty
A few months ago Felix Pastorius, Chris Ward, Zaccai Curtis and I started something called The Stretch Movement. We started quietly amongst our friends and launched our website, mymomthinksimgreat.com on November 2, 2011. Why quietly? I was worried; it was the uneasiness of being the first to do something. In our mission statement we were acknowledging that jazz was not only dead but that that word didn't aptly describe the music we play. We started Stretch for all the amazing ...
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